Descension
by Relatively Unknown
Summary: Naruto's descending into madness... or is he? A story inspired by a great work and a great movie. Read, Review, andor Flame. One-shot.


A/N: I watched another movie tonight (which I'll tell you what it was later) and it  
inspired this.   
  
Yep, the muses aren't here this time, either. Too much going on at the Castle, I suppose.  
And I guess I'm trying to practicing writing without them, since I will have to do that  
next school year. I'll have to write in class, and although people see me as eccentric, they  
have no idea just how eccentric I am. ::faraway look::  
  
Well, here this is. It's Naruto's POV, or rather, he's the narrator. Enjoy.  
  
_DISCLAIMER_: I don't any of this, except the little changes I've made. The story line, the  
characters, and everything else that isn't nailed down belongs to the respective owners.   
  
-----  
  
He showed up on my perverbial doorstep at the worst possible time. Then again, looking  
back, he always did have such timing...  
  
It is of little consequence now.   
  
Where was I...? I lose such track of things.... Oh, yes, I was telling you about his arrival. It  
came out of nowhere, really, though looking back I suppose some part of me knew he  
would. It was just a matter of time.... He came pounding, and once I answered, he looked  
me in the eye and spoke.  
  
"You stole my body," he said.   
  
Those four simple words would change my life forever. I, of course, not being the  
intelligent being I now am could only look at him in confusion. I stuttered for a moment  
before pausing and looking him over. I had never seen him before in my life. I looked at  
him and replied--  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about!"   
  
Quite the well-spoken creature wasn't I? Well, he and I exchanged a few words-- which  
was, sadly, mostly profanity on my part-- and he left. I still had no idea what he was  
talking about. I didn't bother thinking on it; I didn't think about anything much, to be  
truthful. Never had before then, so, I figured, why start now? I did, eventually, but that is  
another matter for later.  
  
I had too many other things on my mind, you see, and I none of them did I wish to be  
there. I had been left alone to my own devices, something I hadn't had since I was a child,  
and I was at a loss for what to do. Granted, I suppose I could train everyday, but it was  
not worth doing if I was going to be alone.   
  
We had split up, our little triad. Sasuke had gone with Kakashi for special training;  
Jiraiya had washed his hands of me, claiming there was no more he could teach me; and  
Sakura had gone back to her old life, whatever that was. Even Iruka had become too busy  
for his "little brother", what with every trained nin needed for the upcoming war and now  
Konohamaru and company in class. I was left completely and utterly alone.   
  
I was ignored, even by those who had once gone out of there way to torture me. I wasn't  
worth one red cent in their eyes and now I wasn't even worth bothering. I had no one to  
talk to, no one to rival, and certainly no one to spar with-- the only one who would do that  
and not _accidentally_ try to kill me was Rock Lee, and he was still out of commission from  
the Chuunin Exams.  
  
In was in this ironic chaos that he came knocking, both on my door and on my mind.  
Knock, knock, knock.... They say when one door closes, another one opens; the world  
had shut its door on me and I had opened one onto him.   
  
He was only a nuisance at first. He came around every other day or so and demand for his  
body back. I told him I didn't have his body. He said that I did, that I had stolen it from  
him long before I was even born. Now, remember I said I wasn't of the knowledgeable  
race back then. So, confused by this, I began to wonder.  
  
For a boy who had never wondered much of anything in life (except why it took so long  
for water to boil), this was a startling new experience. And while I did not give up  
training entirely, I did devout quite a bit of my time to pondering the questions that my  
odd visitor had brought with him. I didn't go out as often, I didn't eat as much, I didn't  
even think about my old dreams a great lot. It didn't matter, I suppose, so there was no  
one to see or comment on it; only myself.  
  
One time, when he knocked, I spoke before he did. I asked him his name. He told me I  
knew his name, and preceded to ask the now routine question. I exchanged a few words  
with him before slamming the door in his face-- also the routine. It seems, however, I did  
that one time too many, for the next morning I opened my door to his knock to find a note  
and a dead, stiff cat. A cat I had chased all over Konoha many times, and who had found  
it amusing to claw me each time I was the one to carry him.   
  
I peered at the dead animal for some time, I think. I can't tell you if it was a minute or an  
hour, and honestly I'm not sure there was much of a difference to me then. I then looked  
at the note that had been tacked onto my door.   
  
_I AM NOT KIDDING_, I read, _I WANT IT BACK_. I stared at it, too, for some time, with the  
same stipulation as earlier. I then reached up, took the note down, put it in my pocket, and  
returned the tack. I then went inside, retrieved an old blanket and wrapped the dead cat  
up. I took him inside for now-- I would bury him in the forest later that night-- and went  
back to wondering.   
  
They say that a wondering mind is a dangerous mind.   
  
Hmm. I wonder about that.  
  
I didn't see him for several days after that, but I often saw his handiwork. I heard the  
whispers, the rumors, drifting in from my window from the street below. Animals dying  
or disappearing mysteriously, as well as their owners. All ones I knew, too, or at least had  
encountered. As I think about it now, it was rather odd how detached I was about the  
whole ordeal. I was still emotional, do not get me wrong, and was fairly prone to bouts of  
anger, but I didn't feel upset. Instead, I was more irritated than anything else.  
  
I had been left alone. _Why couldn't he leave me alone?_  
  
I don't understand my reasoning now any better than I did then. I think the problem was I  
thought without any real knowledge, and had to fill in the blanks myself as I went along.   
  
It took me another week before I realized who exactly my visitor was. Even then, I didn't  
want to accept it as reality; how could I? He was locked away (as I should have been for  
even considering it) and couldn't reach me. Especially not with a living, breathing body  
that he so evidently had.   
  
It was the day after this discovery (or was it two? Eh, no matter) that he returned. My  
esteemed former rival from days gone by. It was because of this that I bothered to check  
my calendar for the first time in some length, and I was stunned to realized that it had  
been over a month at the very least. I hadn't kept too well of a track before my  
abandonment either, so it was truly hard to say just how long it had been, but I knew a  
great deal of time _had_ passed, and it had changed me.  
  
I didn't become aware of how much a change it was until the looked-for knocking came. I  
opened, prepared to confront my habitually returning visitor, and I came face to face with  
someone I once knew. It took me a rather long moment to recognize him; his eyes had  
changed. It was permanent, now, it seemed, much like his kith and kin.   
  
I suppose it really _was_ all relative.  
  
The other standing on my doorstep I recognized much more quickly after the first. Ah,  
student and sensei together-- how... lovely. It was a freakish Gai-and-Lee moment, but it  
passed quickly and into my den they came. I offered them tea in a hoarse voice, since I  
hadn't used it much in the passing weeks. Little reason to.  
  
They declined, and so I had no escape to the kitchen. I was forced to remain here with  
them. Oh, how I had wished my visitor would show up then, but of course, he didn't. I  
endured the visit, listening to details I was only half aware of, and couldn't hope to get  
them out of here fast enough. They were invading the only refuge I had left, and I did not  
like it.  
  
Eventually they left, thank the gods, and I was left alone. Or so I thought, since the phone  
rang almost immediately afterwards, startling me. I answered, and it was he; my visitor.  
He was bidding me to come see something with him that he must show me. Sighing  
audibly, I reached for my coat and left hurriedly, wanting to get this over with.  
  
He had bidden me to come to the old training grounds, near where my former team had  
met on the bridge. There I went, gliding along like an experienced shadow through the  
village. Upon my arrival, I saw him nowhere. I looked around, and soon something  
caught my eye. It looked like a hand of someone trying to hide behind a tree. It didn't  
occur to me how no nin, no matter how inexperienced, would make such a mistake, but I  
didn't think on it and walked over.  
  
As I rounded the tree, I saw it as clear as day. For the first time in quite awhile, I felt  
something. I gagged on my own breath and was soon passed out beneath the tree. I awoke  
to a voice, to his voice. He was admiring the handiwork.  
  
"Beautiful, isn't it?" he had said, smiling. I was too dizzy to think on anything, and  
merely nodded. I only realize now what a perverse thing it was to do. "You were out for  
almost two hours," he continued. "I wanted to wake you up, but I decided to let you rest.  
You haven't gotten much of that lately, what with the dreams and all."  
  
Again, I could only nod. Finally, my vision cleared and focused, and I saw what was  
before me on the tree again. I didn't gag this time, I could only stare in a weird  
fascination. The chest had been obliterated. One swift blow had torn it completely open.  
My visitor sighed.  
  
"Beautiful... but such a mess," he said. He looked at me as I tried to stand. My balance  
was still off. "I have told you-- I want my body back. I won't stop until it is done and I  
will kill everything in this village if I have to... man, woman, child, it makes no difference  
to me. So, do we have a deal? Give it back to me!"  
  
"I don't... I don't... I... don't..." I stuttered, trying to get my bearings on the world around  
me still.  
  
"I know, I've heard that before. You have my body. You know who I am and yet you still  
deny what is rightfully mine. I want it back. Give it to me!"  
  
"...How?" I asked finally. He set his eyes dead straight on mine and an involuntary chill  
went up my spine.  
  
"You know how, boy! You've thought it out this far, why not finish it?" He paused,  
appearing to contemplate something. "I will be at your apartment at sundown. You have a  
job to do and I suggest you get it done quick, or else there will be a plague upon this  
village the likes of which you have not yet seen," he hissed, before disappearing into the  
forest.  
  
I watched him leave, then turned to the victim. I shook my head, how had it come to this?  
I left quickly to retrieve a shovel from my apartment and quickly came back, using the  
back door of my building. And there that abomination was buried, not ten feet from the  
tree. It would rot there, a deserving ending... for her...  
  
I went back to my apartment. There was still time left, but I took little notice. My mind  
was somewhere the rest of me dared not follow. I was on auto pilot, moving out of  
instinct alone. At first, I sat listlessly, staring into space. No, not space... a mirror. The  
only one I had, it hung on the wall like a doorway to another world. I looked at it, and my  
mind left me. I saw not my reflection, but the reflection of what once was... what I once  
had... and how they all had left me.  
  
_Why do you think they did that?_  
  
_I don't know_, I replied truthfully.  
  
_Yes, you do, just keep thinking. Keep following that trail you've been led along this whole  
time...._  
  
_Led?_ I asked. _Why?_  
  
_Why do you think?_  
  
_I don't know... a test?_ I offered.  
  
_Think, you fool!_   
  
_I don't like where this is going_, I replied.  
  
_Going? You're going nowhere._   
  
"And you?" I asked, out loud this time.  
  
"Me? I've been here all along," came the reply. I stood and saw in that mirror-door his  
reflection.  
  
"Have you?" I replied, not really know what I was asking.  
  
"Of course I have, you've only just realized that, haven't you?"  
  
"I... have?"  
  
"Yes. I want my body back. You know how."  
  
"Take... it...?"  
  
"If I could have just taken it, don't you think I would have by now?" It was a reasonable  
question and I could see the answer. It was still a puzzle to me, though.   
  
_How, then?_ I asked.  
  
"You know how. You've always known how, you just couldn't handle it. You're not  
handling it now. You know who I am and what I want. How do _you_ plan to finish this?"  
  
"Finish..." I echoed, uncertain. I was on the brink of it, I knew, but I just couldn't find it.  
It was still beyond my reach, _he_ was still beyond my reach. He approached me and stood  
directly behind me; I could see his gaze staring at my reflection in the mirror.  
  
"Finish this. You started this, now finish it! Give it back to me, where it belongs. You  
remember... don't you? You've known all along who I was-- I was you! _I_ was the one  
who had to take over because you just could not handle it. You could never handle it, it  
wasn't it your nature. That's why I am here, to change your nature. You've come so close  
and yet you keep procrastinating from finishing this. So I ask you-- _how do you plan to  
finish this?!_"  
  
I heard a knock at my door; not the soft, steady knocking that announced the presence of  
my visitor, but a rapid pounding. I took one last look in the mirror and something inside  
me snapped.  
  
I remembered.  
  
I had taken that fool of sennin's bestowed knowledge and used it like it had been meant to  
be. My mind had gone to a place my body did not dare to follow, for it had its own  
agenda. I had slaughtered those animals, those hateful, biting, clawing, evil animals. I had  
ripped them to shreds and left them for the earth to claim, taking their vile human  
counterparts with it.   
  
Oh, yes, I remembered, and I knew who it was at my door. I would let them live yet a few  
moments longer, let them enjoy their last few breaths in that desperate panic I knew they  
were in.   
  
The door was broken, destroyed, left in a pile of splinters on the floor. I could hear them,  
calling, searching. I could feel the power that which flowed throw my veins, pulsating.  
Eager for use against these nefarious beings that had dared to interfere. I waited, silently...  
waited for the most opportune moment....  
  
He came through the doorway that led to my room first. I didn't hesitate, using a kunai to  
slit his throat before he could scream. I would not waste _my_ power on he who wouldn't  
waste a moment for me. I paused for a long second, watching the blood stain that green  
vest and black hair. I stalked over his still convulsing body to find the other. He didn't  
hear me, how odd. I grabbed him and went to explode his body with my power when I  
heard a call from outside my front door. I would have to settle this with him later.   
  
I took several kunai and crucified his arms to the wall in various places. I stuffed  
something in his mouth-- a shirt, I think-- and moved on to he who was coming up the  
stairs. I saw a flash of silver; I grabbed the shovel I had used earlier and waited beside the  
open doorway. Even with his mouth full, that bloody fool was trying to scream out a  
warning. Instead, I saw with amusement, it was only enticing him towards his demise.  
  
I let him walk in far enough and let the shovel swing. It wasn't enough to hurt him, only  
enough to daze him. I flipped him over with my foot, then placed it on his chest. I leaned  
on the shovel and looked down at him, smirking. I couldn't help it, it was just so alluring,  
the drama of it all. That fool was still trying to scream, but it only came out as muffled  
pleas. I picked the shovel up, placed the spade over the neck, and pushed as hard as I  
could.   
  
I lifted the dripping blade and walked over to the crucified body. I looked at him  
distantly. I saw the expression, I knew what he was asking.  
  
_...Why?_  
  
"Why? You ask me _why?!_" I said, spitting his words right back at him. "I used to hate  
you, you know..."   
  
I dropped the shovel. The pulsating was vibrant now, even more full of life. I placed my  
hand on his chest and sent that power riveting through him, filling every cell of his being.  
He began to glow from all that power, the same color as the sanguine liquid staining my  
hands.   
  
He didn't explode.  
  
He disintegrated.  
  
"I used to hate you, you know..." I repeated. "And now, I despise you."  
  
Most of what happened after that night is a blur. I don't remember cleaning the mess or  
burying the two bodies that were left, though I know I did. I'm not even sure _where_ I  
buried them. I have forgotten all that, forgotten how it had occurred and how I had gone  
back, for intents and purposes, to who I used to be. Or rather, I think I have... I have  
forgotten that part of me.   
  
I only remember what I should.  
  
It was sometime later that a heard a knocking at my door again. I beckoned for whoever it  
was to come in, and that I was in the kitchen. I was waiting for that infernal water to boil.  
  
I still wonder about that.  
  
I looked up to see Jiraiya and Tsunade. I smiled genuinely and asked them the purpose of  
their visit-- did I have a mission?  
  
"We know you did it," Jiraiya said, so low that any human would have trouble hearing it.   
  
"Did what?" I asked innocently.  
  
"We may not know how or have any proof, but it is not doubted," Tsunade said. _Hmm_, I  
idly thought, _she's gotten that condescending tone down pat already! Bravo for her._ "We  
are here to ask you to leave."  
  
"Leave?" I inquired. "I have permission?"  
  
"You have an order," she said, her voice now as low as Jiraiya's.   
  
"Do you understand?" he asked.  
  
"Yes. It's fine with me. After all, it is finished, and that is all that matters..." I spoke,  
trailing off.  
  
_Indeed....  
  
It is only the ending that matters...._  
  
A/N: For those of you who know what movie I've seen, I tried to make it at least  
somewhat different, yet keeping to the same lines. For those of you who don't, here's a  
question first-- what do you get when you introduce NARUTO to Stephen King?  
  
Why, this of course. This fic was inspired by _Secret Window_, the movie with Johnny  
Depp, which was based on _Secret Window, Secret Garden_, a novella by Stephen King.  
The visitor I'm sure you can guess was Kyuubi, or some type of perverse form of him that  
Naruto's mind came up with. I suppose it could be either way-- this could be a new  
personality of Naruto's or the Kyuubi having taken control of him. Whichever you, the  
reader, prefers.  
  
I honestly can't say why I wrote this, I just did. I mean, Naruto? Killing Sakura, Iruka,  
Kakashi, Sasuke, and various other people and animals? Sounds like Itachi, not Naruto.  
Well, when you are as alone as he was, you go to the only sanctuary left-- your mind. I  
also have a theory on something similar with Itachi, but that's another story.  
  
Please, feel free to comment, good or bad. I accept flames and criticism, so don't feel like  
you need to hold back a rant or tirade if that's what you want to put. If you think it is,  
perhaps, too personal, then go ahead and E-mail me, my address is written in my BIO.   
  



End file.
